well as i am in Los Angeles and up at a stupid time i thought i would put together a bit of a comparison between VS and BA from the back of the bus.
this puts BA's new A380 economy service against VS on the 747 on the LAX route.
I last flew the route with VS last year on the upper deck of G-VFAB and this week flew out on G-XLEC with BA.
if i miss anything let me know.
Check In @LHR
VS win. BA sent me away as i was 5 mins early to drop my bag. (i thought T5 had a massive early bag store on the bag network)
Terminal @LHR
T5 is brighter but draws with T3
Boarding
VS manage priority boarding quite well with flights.
BA display PRE BOARDING on a screen and the whole of London tries to board.
for this flight all special assistance passengers were put through the gate and down towards the aircraft and then all 22 crew turned up .
Personaly i would prefer the crew to security check the aircraft with ought having to board these pax at the same time.
Cabin
I prefer the VS economy cabin on all aircraft over the BA A380 Y cabin i found BA's seat uncomfortable as the head restraint is shaped and can not be flattened this makes it hard to find a comfortable position to sleep.
IFE
a draw. BA's touchscreen system wins over the VS equivalent and definitely wins over V-Port (or whatever it is called now) but VS have a better selection of content in my opinion.
Food
VS win. VS give 3 choices (chicken/beef/pasta) BA have chicken or pasta.
Crew
VS win. BA's crew started the flight shouting at a group of PAX for not sitting down quick enough (perhaps the crew should have been onboard 30 mins earlier so as to start boarding on time!) and then made minimal contact with pax
at least VS crew smile and talk to pax.
Arrival.
LAX is LAX nothing the airlines can do.
it did take an hour to get my bag and after sprinting to immigration and beating most of the other pax to boarder control getting through to the bag carousel in 15 mins waiting there for 60 was not good. and to make it worse they were sending 10 bags then having a break before another 10 or so.
VS last year got bags out a lot quicker (and i was only a red then so like for like)
all in all the A380 with BA has not done enough to make me switch from VS. the higher cabins did look nice but i think VS still has it for me. just need to work out how to keep my gold card with VS for another year.
i will post a trip report for the 380 when i get home and get over the jet lag.
this puts BA's new A380 economy service against VS on the 747 on the LAX route.
I last flew the route with VS last year on the upper deck of G-VFAB and this week flew out on G-XLEC with BA.
if i miss anything let me know.
Check In @LHR
VS win. BA sent me away as i was 5 mins early to drop my bag. (i thought T5 had a massive early bag store on the bag network)
Terminal @LHR
T5 is brighter but draws with T3
Boarding
VS manage priority boarding quite well with flights.
BA display PRE BOARDING on a screen and the whole of London tries to board.
for this flight all special assistance passengers were put through the gate and down towards the aircraft and then all 22 crew turned up .
Personaly i would prefer the crew to security check the aircraft with ought having to board these pax at the same time.
Cabin
I prefer the VS economy cabin on all aircraft over the BA A380 Y cabin i found BA's seat uncomfortable as the head restraint is shaped and can not be flattened this makes it hard to find a comfortable position to sleep.
IFE
a draw. BA's touchscreen system wins over the VS equivalent and definitely wins over V-Port (or whatever it is called now) but VS have a better selection of content in my opinion.
Food
VS win. VS give 3 choices (chicken/beef/pasta) BA have chicken or pasta.
Crew
VS win. BA's crew started the flight shouting at a group of PAX for not sitting down quick enough (perhaps the crew should have been onboard 30 mins earlier so as to start boarding on time!) and then made minimal contact with pax
at least VS crew smile and talk to pax.
Arrival.
LAX is LAX nothing the airlines can do.
it did take an hour to get my bag and after sprinting to immigration and beating most of the other pax to boarder control getting through to the bag carousel in 15 mins waiting there for 60 was not good. and to make it worse they were sending 10 bags then having a break before another 10 or so.
VS last year got bags out a lot quicker (and i was only a red then so like for like)
all in all the A380 with BA has not done enough to make me switch from VS. the higher cabins did look nice but i think VS still has it for me. just need to work out how to keep my gold card with VS for another year.
i will post a trip report for the 380 when i get home and get over the jet lag.
Chris H
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